Child of Time
by SurpriseSushi
Summary: He was forced to watch as his planet of birth burned and faded away. He cried and cried, but tears would bring back the red grass.


**The Child of Time**

A Doctor Who fanfiction by SurpriseSushi

Chapter One

**"**_**Makes no sense to fall, as the world falls down.**_**"**

**As the World Falls Down, David Bowie**

He didn't understand. He couldn't understand. He was only in his sixtieth year, still merely just a child, so none of it made very much sense to him. The fighting. The war. The Daleks. He couldn't fight back when his father shoved his mother and him out the door, and he couldn't stop her as his mother pushed him into the escape pod. He begged her to come with him, to abandon this war and escape, but she shook her head. She had to stay and fight. For the people. For Gallifrey. For Time itself. In time, she hoped he might come to understand.

She took his hands and dropped a single seed into them, then closed the door, sealing it shut. She kissed the glass, and turned, but not before he saw her silvery tears falling down her pale cheeks. He pounded on the sealed door, unable to open it, watching his mother walk away into the endless war. He heard the engines of the pod start, and he took one last look at his home, the only planet he's known his entire young life. The pod propelled itself into the air, and within seconds had escaped the planets atmosphere. He shook his head, his sobs the only sound in the tiny pod. He pressed his face into his arms, letting his tears fall down his face.

Suddenly the dark interior of the escape pod was illuminated to blinding brightness. The boy lifted his head, and looked back to his planet. It was ablaze. The surrounding planets glowed eerily, as Gallifrey burned away. His eyes hurt staring at the planet on fire, but he couldn't look away. Horror froze him to the spot.

But as quickly as it had lit, it dissapeared. The entire burning mass vanished. The boy blinked several times, even rubbed his eyes, but the planet was gone and didn't reappear. And he was zooming away to planets, galaxies, universes unknown. His home planet, which he was forced away from mere minutes ago had vanished. Even if he did find a way back from wherever it was he would eventually land, there was no place to go back to. He watched hours later, but there was a gapping hole in the stars where Gallifrey should be. He couldn't return home. There wasn't a home to return to.

_**March 27th, 2009**_

_**Somewhere above London, England**_

"Doctor!"

"Hang on!"

"_Doctor!_"

"I said give me a second!"

There was an explosion, and the man and the woman were thrown to the ground. "We don't have a second!" Screamed the woman, pushing herself to her feet. She wheeled around to the man, who had also regained his balance, and put her hands on her hips, giving him a look.

"Uh, well." The man scratched the back of his head. He had to throw out a hand to catch himself as the floor lurched again. He glanced at the woman. "We're crashing."

"Really!" She yelled, picking herself off the ground again. "Where? More importantly, _when?_"

The man pulled himself towards the little computer screen, and pressed a few buttons, gripping the screen in both hands to steady himself as there was another explosion and the floor pitched to the left. "Huh." He said, and he grinned. "Twenty-first century, London, England! Right when we left off, actually. Aren't we lucky?"

"Oh, I'm going to kill you-"

"Wait a minute..." The man frowned, and furrowed his brow. He pressed a few more buttons, and held to the screen tighter. "What?" He looked up towards the ceiling, then back down to the screen. "_What?_"

"What? What is it?"

He didn't reply, but he pushed a hand through his hair and stepped away from the console. He looked at the woman, and was silent for another while. But then he opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again and spoke. "Someone - or some_thing_ - is over-riding the TARDIS. I can't control her. But nothing can do that except for a..." He faced the screen again, making sure of his calculations. "Whoever it is, they're dragging us towards them."

"And that's... bad?"

"Well, yeah, I don't know who or what they are!" He sat on the jump seat.

"What are you doing?"

"The only thing we can do. Preparing for impact." He shugged. The woman looked like she was going to argue, but she sighed and sat next to the man.

"I really hate you sometimes."

"Oh, I know." He smiled.

He kicked the- machine? Plant? Whatever- hard, causing no damage at all except to his foot. He groaned, and sat down on the hard ground, massaging his toe. Grumbling, he glared at the tiny shck he had just kicked.. "Can't you just cooperate?" He whispered under his breath, shaking his head in exasperation. He stood and opened the door, stepping into the small shack, closing the door behind him.

Inside, it was cold and dark, and much bigger. The air he exhaled came out as steam, remining him again just how cold it was. Marching up to the control panel, he took hold of the hammer that was leaning against the wall. "Listen," He said, holding up the tool menacingly. "I hate it here too, but if you don't start working, we're stuck here. So stop moping, or I'll-" He stopped suddenly and lowered his hammer. He smiled. "I'm sorry. I'm just frustrated, as I'm sure you are with me." He dropped the hammer and placed his hands gently on the cool metal.

But before he could say anymore there was a rumbling and a loud crash from just outside. He turned towards the door, but it was closed securely. He felt his almost over-whelming curiousity, but with the state his ship was in, as soon as he went out those doors, it might just up and leave without him. So despite the intence, nagging need to explore, he stayed put, trying to figure out a way to jump-start his ship. _If only I had a few more years training at the Academy. Maybe I would even know what was wrong, let alone what to do._

_Knock, knock, knock_.

He turned to face the door again. Someone was knocking. But... The ship had a time-cloak. It shapes itself into something people of this time period would just pass by. Meaning that whoever was knocking... Maybe he was just going crazy? Maybe the knock was a figment of his- _knock, knock, knock_- nevermind. He picked up his hammer again, and inched towards the door. He hesitated- _knock, knock, knock_- then opened the door.

A man and a woman stood there. The man had brown hair and eyes, and woar a brown coat over a suit and tie. The woman had red hair and blue eyes, dressed as any woman would in the twenty-first century. The man was studying him, his face full of disbelief and a hint of... pain. "Can... can I help you?"

"... How can you exist?" The man asked, more to himself than to anyone. "Are you...?" The man pushed past him and walked into the shack as if in a trance, but when he tried to stop the man, the man threw him aside as if he was a bedsheet.

"Doctor?" The woman asked, not following the man in. The man didn't turn, but tilted his head upwards and looked around and around.

"Excuse me, you can't just-" He tried to grab the man's arm, but the man's eyes fell on him and he froze. His honey brown eyes were full of impossible knowledge. Who was this man?

"Doctor-" The woman called from the door.

"Who are you?" He asked, his voice echoing in the large interior of his tiny shack. He ignored the woman calling to him. "_Who are you?_" He asked, stepping towards him when he didn't answer.

"Give me your name and I shall give you mine." He said, in a defiant stance against his fear of the man. The man seemed more shocked about him than the fact that his shack was much, much larger than it was on the outside.

"Don't play games with me." The man was raising his voice. "Tell me where you're from! What planet?"

"How did you-"

"_Just tell me!_"

"Gallifrey! I'm from Gallifrey! Why? What do you want? I haven't done anything wrong!"

The man fell silent. The woman had stepped through the door, and she now stood there staring. The man fell to the ground and sat, crossing his legs, and lowered his head into his hands that he rested on his knee's. "You're from Gallifrey?" he asked, his voice slighty muffled yet much gentler.

"Yes."

The man looked up at him; he couldn't read the expression that man had on his face. Hurt? Pain? Loss? Confusion? Happiness? All of the above? "How did you survive?" He asked, his voice expressionless. "Gallifrey burned away, and was locked in a time seal. How did you survive?"

In his minds eyes, he saw the burning planet from his childhood. But he focused on the man. "How do you know-?"

"I'm a Time Lord."

He stared at the man. "Who...?"

"It's not important. How did you survive?" He asked more forcefully.

"I... My... an escape pod."

"An escape pod?"

"Most Gallifraens abandoned the primitive techonology, but my parents salvaged an old space ship. Made it into our emergency escape pod. It was... only made for one. Minutes before the planet was lit on fire, they... shoved me into the escape pod and sent me away. I was forced to watch Gallafrey disappear forever, as I unwillingly escaped." He knelt in front of the man. "Who did it? Was it the Daleks?"

"No, they burned and disappeared, too. Along with the Time Lords." The man didn't look at him.

"Then who-"

"Why do you want to know?" The man glanced up into his face. Searching. "What will you do then? Seek revenge? Try to find a way to bring them back? Mind you, Gallifrey was lost over eight hundred years ago... how old are you?"

"Eight hundred and sixty-three. Seventh reincarnation."

"...You were just a baby..."

"A baby?" The woman had gotten very close. "He was _sixty-three_-"

"Donna, I'm over nine hundred years old. For Time Lords, sixty is just the beginning." The man stood and looked around again. "If you got away on an escape pod, how did you get a TARDIS?" He touched the control panel, almost lovingly. "They have to be grown."

"They don't have to be grown on Gallifrey, apparently. I grew my TARDIS on earth."

"Ohhhh," He reached into his pocket and withdrew a pair of glasses. "That's why my TARDIS was getting wierd signals, couldn't pinpoint who was dragging us towards them... Yours has a different feel entirely..." He pulled back his hand from the control panel as if stung. "It's... hurt." He placed his glasses on his nose and began to study the TARDIS.

"Grown? Hurt? Doctor, it's a time machine. Just a machine..." The woman, Donna, said. "Isn't it?"

"Hardly." The man reached into his pocket again and pulled out a sonic screwdriver. He walked over the control panel, pulled the moving screen towards him, and flashed his screwdriver at it. "What's your name?" He asked, not looking at him, but continued to do God-knows-what to the machine.

"I have only the name my parents gave me."

The man stopped for a moment, still not turning to look at him. "...I'm sorry." He began to poke at the TARDIS again. "What name do you go by, then?"

"The humans on earth call me William Oppel."

"Hello, William. I'm the Doctor, this," He indicated the woman with his thumb. "Is Donna Noble. She travels with me."

"Hello." Donna waved.

There was a moment of silence, the Doctor fiddling with the TARDIS the only sound. "What are you doing?" William asked, watching the Doctor cautiously.

"Trying to figure out what's wrong with your TARDIS. The camoflauge still works, but the rest... It must have sent that distress signal and pulled us here..." He scratched his head, pressing a few buttons, looking for a sign of life. "How long have you been stuck in the twenty-first century?"

"About six months. It was around September when I landed here. The TARDIS changed into this shack, then just... stopped. She wouldn't move, no matter what I did." He walked up next to the Doctor to watch what he was doing.

It didn't make any sence. None what-so-ever. An escape pod? He'd certainly done his homework if he knew the Gallifreans didn't have any. Hell, the fact that he knows _anything_ about Gallifrey was impressive. He has a TARDIS, but he could have easily stolen that. It felt like a TARDIS, but very... earthly. Like it was something new. Which would verify his 'grown on earth' claim. Everything about him was just... too good to be true. He refused to believe. Not just yet. He scanned the TARDIS, trying to figure out why it wasn't working. TARDIS's don't just stop working unless something makes it stop.

Suddenly the TARDIS sparked viciously, setting his suit on fire. "Stop, drop and roll!" Screamed Donna. He threw off his jacket, dropping it to the floor and stamping on it. He stared back at the TARDIS. It _was _something new.

"You said this TARDIS was grown on earth right?" He asked William, turning to him. William nodded, glancing at the smothering suit jacket. "Hmm." He scratched his chin. "It's quite possible that, due to it's growth on this panet, it sucked up some human presence. Particularily those who are buried and long forgotten where you planted it."

"Wait," Donna looked around the interior of the TARDIS. "It's... you don't mean... No..."

"Yes, Donna. I mean this TARDIS... is as human as you. It attacked because it didn't like me poking around inside it." He glanced at William, then poked the TARDIS with the screwdriver again. There was a rumble, and the TARDIS took off, throwing Donna and William to the ground with the vilocity. It took all of his strength to hold onto the transmat-converter to save himself from making painful impact with the floor.

"Doctor, what have you done?" Donne yelled, paniced. She was gripping the TARDIS's wall to stop herself from being thrown around.

"I made the TARDIS take her to the last place she was before 21st century London. I'm towing my TARDIS as well, so when we land she'll be there. Something must have upset this TARDIS, wherever you last were, and then, when it felt threatened, it went to the place it knew it would be safe. And I must say, the 21st century is pretty safe. Well, when compared to other centuries, it's reasonably safe..." He pocketed his sonic screwdriver, and gripped the TARDIS with both hands so he didn't go flying. "Where were you last, anyway? Some sort of warning would be nice." He directed this question to William.

"I heard about the rainbow-colored meteor showers on the planet of Frasta, in the Dracule Zone, and I just wanted to check it out. Not a second after I landed, the TARDIS took off again, ending up here."

"Who on earth in the twentieth century told you that?"

"I can still tune into any intergalactic chanel from my TARDIS."

"Anyway, anyway," He interupted, waving a hand. "Do you know when in the Dracule Zone?"

"Fourty-second century." He stratched his head. "Galactic time." He added, reaching out to steady himself.

"Oh."

Donna looked over at the Doctor. "Doctor, what is it?"

He licked his lips. "I'm not sure, but I have a pretty good idea."

The shaking stopped, and everything went quiet.

_**/**_

**A/N: I do not own Doctor Who or David Bowie.**

** I love Donna. :'D Honestly, she's my favorite companion. I love Rose beyond words, of course, but the chemisty between David Tennant and Cathrine Tate is just too godly. I hope I'm able to capture that in this fic. First and second season are my favorite, Donna's my favorite companion, but my two favorite episodes are from the third season(my favorite being Human Nature and Family of Blood). I haven't seen much of five yet. Anyhoo's, as always, feedback is greatly appreciated, and I hope you enjoyed!**

_**SurpriseSushi**_


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